Museum extends popular exhibit on Springfield's square

John Sellars, executive director of the History Museum on the Square, talks with, from left, Cassie Crawford, Mary Cooke and Jessica Aden, about the history of a building downtown. The museum's current exhibit on the history of the square has been extended to the end of April.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)Buy Photo

A famous shootout, a shameful lynching, a World War II victory celebration — all of that happened at Park Central Square, and it's all documented at a history exhibit downtown.

The History Museum on the Square is extending that exhibit through June 19 due to continued interest, the museum's executive director said.

“Turnout has been steady and we thought is was an important exhibit so we decided to keep it open a while longer,” Executive Director John Sellars said. "(The square has) seen itself ebb and flow, grow and develop. It’s the pumping heart of the city."

Newspaper clippings, old photographs and information printouts dot the walls of the museum, explaining decade-by-decade how the history of Springfield is entwined with the square.

In 1835, John Polk Campbell began the city by donating 50 acres — two of which were set aside for the square. It started out as dirt roads around a log-cabin courthouse, Sellars said.

In 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok got in a shootout with a man named Davis Tutt over a gambling debt, specifically a pocket watch, Sellars said.

Wild Bill told Tutt that if he saw him wearing his pocket watch, Hickok would kill him, according to Sellars. Tutt replied that he would be on the square that evening with the watch.

Later, the square became a site of celebrations, like after the victory in World War II, Sellars said.

Three women stopped by the exhibit Monday while a News-Leader photographer was there. They had a question about a business they worked at near the square on McDaniel Street — what did the business used to be?

Sellars said he looked at the 1953 business map and found that it was a drapery shop. Many people stop by with questions about downtown Springfield's past.

"It's so amazingly significant how resilient (the square has) been," he said.

Those interested in the exhibit and can stop by the Museum on Square from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children.